Single-shot angular compounded optical coherence tomography angiography by splitting full-space B-scan modulation...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Ophthalmology

Background:

• Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCT Angiography) is crucial for visualizing microvasculature.
• Enhancing blood flow contrast and reducing misclassification errors remain key challenges in OCT Angiography.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a single-shot spatial angular compounded OCT Angiography (AC-Angio-OCT) for superior blood flow contrast.
• To improve the interpretation of OCT angiograms by enhancing vessel visualization.

Main Methods:

• Encoding incident angles in B-scan modulation frequencies.
• Splitting the modulation spectrum in the spatial frequency domain to obtain angle-resolved subangiograms.
• Compounding subangiograms to enhance flow contrast and retrieving complex-valued OCT spectral interferograms to avoid ambiguity.

Main Results:

• Achieved a ~50% decrease in misclassification errors compared to conventional methods.
• Demonstrated significantly improved blood flow contrast and vessel connectivity.
• Validated the AC-Angio-OCT concept through flow phantom and live animal experiments.

Conclusions:

• The proposed AC-Angio-OCT method effectively enhances blood flow contrast and vessel connectivity.
• This technique offers a promising advancement for clearer and more accurate OCT angiogram interpretation.
• AC-Angio-OCT represents a significant improvement in microvascular imaging applications.